Car-fender.



Patented Aug. 27, 190|.

.1. B. wooo. CAR FENDER.

(Applikation led Jan. 31, 1901.)

im .a1/5% vPATENT FFICE.

JOHN'B. VOOD, OF CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND.

CAR-FENDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 681,361, dated August 27, 1901. Application filed January 31,1901. Serial No. 45,497. (No model.)

T0 @ZZ whom t may con/cern,.-

Be it known that I, JOHN B. WOOD, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Oak Lawn, Cranston, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Fenders, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to improvements in car-fenders, the same being of the type or class more especially adapted for street or tramway cars; and it consists, essentially, of the suitably-supported endwise-slidable fender member prop er having a rubber-protected or resilient face or edge, an operating shaft or spindle located contiguous to the inside of the dashboard and extending 'downwardly through the platform, and a jointed movable connection uniting the said fender and spindle members, all as will be more fully hereinafter set forth and claimed.

I am well aware that many and various carfenders have been devised; but as a rule such former devices, while possessing more or less merit and utility, have been lacking in simplicity and conveniences and ease of operation. Moreover, the cost of construction has been such as to preclude their general adoption.

In my improved car -fender the objects sought to be attained are safety, efficiency, simplicity, lightness, ease and rapidity of action, and accessibility, all beingobtained at a comparatively small cost. The arrangement of the working spindle is such that a short angular movement of the operating lever or handle thereof suffices to project the fender to its limit in advance of the end of the car or to retract it to its normal position beneath the car-platform.

Another advantage is that the device as a whole can be readily manufactured from structural steel or iron of staple or standard dimensions, there being practically no special forgings required in its construction. I prefer to equip each end of the car with one of the fenders, the latter when retracted to its limit being substantially flush or' even with the buier usually present in modern streetcars. The operating spindle lextends upwardly close to the inner face of the dashboard and at a convenient height to be readily manipulated in either direction by the motorman, the device beingespecially adapted for cars having vestibuled ends.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially through the center of one end of a street-car, showing myimproved carfender projected as in use. Fig. 2 is an end View of the same. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view corresponding with Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on line at c of Fig. l, showing the manner of supporting the device; and Fig. 5 is a partial sectional View, similar to Fig. 1, showing the relation of the several parts when the fender is in its normal or retracted position.

Again referring to the drawings, A designates the fender as a whole. The frame a of the main or slidable member B of the fender is made of suitable angle-iron, bent to the desired shape or outline, its two sides or legs extending rearwardly and upwardly at an angle and slidably supported by the iianged side plates or brackets b, firmly secured to the car-beams.

curved, as shown in Fig. 3.

verse connecting-tie e, which in turn has riveted to it and to the frame d a series of thin fiat parallel strips c of metal or other suitable material, thus forming a grid or surface adapted to receive and support any object caught upon it. The outer or front end portions of these strips may extend beyond the frame a, each alternate one being bent downwardly and arranged to form between them an openin g in which is mountedand secured a piece of rubber lr or otherv suitable resilient material, the ends being secured in sockets r'. (See Figs. 2 and 3.)

In lieu of one of the strips c I have substituted therefor at the center a piece f, the same extending rearwardly and terminating in'a vertical pinf", adapted to pass through one end of a link or-connection t, in turn jointed to a horizontal arm or lever 32, integral with or secured to the lower end of the vertically-arranged operating shaft or spindle s. The latter extends through the platform p of the car and is supported in suitable bearings located contiguous to the iu- (See also Fig. 4.) The front or outer end of the fender member B may bey To the under ner side of the usual dashboard d. The spindle s is sui-mounted with a crank-handle s', through which the motorman is enabled to manipulate the fender. A spring-catch 34 or other analogous device may be used to maintain the handle, duc., in the extreme position.

To the front of the dashboard d are secured a series of vertically-arranged yielding bent strips m of met-al, having the lower ends thereof secured to the buffer-beam or cross-tie n. These strips m also serve as a fender or buffer, in that they form a resilient surface.

The car may be provided on the under side with the usual draw-bar g, pivoted or jointed at g' to a forging secured to the buffer-beam n'. The outer or free end of said bar is adapted to vibrate in the elongated curved opening formed in the fixed guide or quadrant 7L, substantially as common.

Assuming `that a street-car is provided with my improved fender A and that the latter is in the retracted or normal position, (see Fig. 5,) the manner of operating the device may be described as follows: The motorman simply seizes the operating-handle s and presses it rearwardly until it is arrested, say, by the dashboard d, at which instant the catch s4 antomatieall y springs into position and holds the member s in place until the device is again retracted. the handle rearwardly imparts angular movenient to the spindle s, which 'in turn, through the medium of the link fi, jointed thereto and to the pin f', quickly and easily forces the body or main member B of the fender outwardly and downwardly beyond the end `of `the car .or to the positionrepresen'ted in Figs. Al `and 3,'thus completing the operation.

viously a reversal of the movement just desrbed will retract the fender to the normal position.

`Ijmay state that I prefer to locate the spini 1divers at a point near the brake-spindle, thus rendering it readily and conveniently accessible'at all tim es, a comparatively smallamount of force being needed to effect its manipulation.

As herenbefore stated, my improved carfender is comparatively inexpensive in con- The `act of thus swinging rangement of the device being such that the motorman can manipulate the fender with ease and without moving from the position assumed by him in operating the usual controlling-levers which actuate the power and brake mechanisms.

I do not claim, broadly, as my invention a car-fender arranged to be tripped or released and shot forward by the act of manipulatingv a lever or other analogous means; nor do I claim, broadly, a fender provided with a resilient guard; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, in a car-fender, of inclined side brackets or hangers secured to the under side of the car-platform, the endwisemovable fender base or frame B supported by and slidably mounted in said brackets, a vertically mounted operating spindle located contiguous to the rear side of the dashboard `of the car and extending through the carplatform, and a connection uniting Vthe said `f rame and spindle members; constructed and `arranged whereby upon simply manipulating the spindle the fender-frame is projected belyond the end of the car or retracted to its `limit or normal position beneath the platform, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination with the supported endwise-movable fender-base B having a central rearward extension f, of the mounted actuating-spindle s, located contiguous to the dashboard, having a horizontal arm s2 secu-red thereto beneath the car-platform, and a link or connection 1l jointed to and uniting the said membersf and s2 substantially as described. Signed by me at Providence, Rhode Island, this 29th day of January, A. D. 1901.

JOHN B. WOGD. Witnesses:

GEO. H. REMINGTON, G. E. SMITH. 

